A screenshot from "Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games." Courtesy of Nintendo

The jump into the 3D era of video games hasn't been kind to Sega's mascot Sonic, who's known more for his colossal misses than hits. That didn't stop Nintendo from teaming up with their former rival to release "Sonic: Lost World" for the Wii U this holiday season along with another edition from their popular Olympics series, "Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games."

Sonic: Lost World
The plot has Saturday morning cartoon written all over it. Dr. Eggman enlists the help of the kooky Deadly Six to partake an evilness. Sonic and his buddy Tails crash land on the Lost Hex, where the game's levels take place. The story has its predictable twists and turns, which will entertain kids mostly.

The game looks very, very nice. Levels include desert, snow, fire and more, utilizing a full-color palette. Landscapes are detailed, and the free-floating platforms in the sky bring back fond memories of "Super Mario Galaxy."

Gameplay, on the other hand, can be not so nice. Sonic is all about speed, and Sega changed things up a bit by having the hedgehog move somewhat slower than before. Regular movement with the directional pad is a modest pace, which is fine for the game's platforming sections. Holding down a trigger button gets Sonic to go faster and automatically run up walls and other obstacles, which can get annoying in more complex levels when bumping into these at the wrong angle screeches everything to a halt.

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The 2D sections are much more satisfying than the over-the-shoulder 3D levels. 2D plays like classic Sonic, and it makes me wish the whole game was like this. The Wisp abilities from "Sonic Colors" return, but don't really improve the experience.

Expect to see the game over screen a lot during 3D sections, where fast sections are plagued with problems. Jump distances are tough to measure, resulting in Sonic falling to his death over and over again. Level design is too inconsistent, creating controller-throwing difficulty spikes.

Every time a 3D platforming Sonic game is revealed, fans have hope that it will finally be the big one -- only to be filled with disappointment again. Add this game to that list.1 1/2 stars out of 4

Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games
This sports/party title with the super-long name is the fourth game in the commercially successful Mario & Sonic series. It releases ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics taking place in February in Sochi, Russia.

The typical events are showcased with kind of an overload of skiing and snowboarding events. They look and control basically the same with the Wiimote. The motion controls are hit and miss as you steer down the slopes, inadvertently bumping along the sides.

Other games are fun like hockey, where you use special power shots to shoot the puck into the net. Curling is very creative. The GamePad is used to draw out strategies and the Wiimote slides the rock down the ice. Pairs figure skating is great with others and involves a bunch of waving of the arms.

Dream events shine over the regular ones. These include Winter Sports Champion Race, where snowboarding, skiing and bobsledding are played simultaneously; Hole-in-One Curling, where you try to slide the rock toward a marked spot in as few moves as possible; Snowball Scrimmage, where you launch snowballs at others; and Bullet Bill Sledge Race, which plays like Mario Kart.

Other game modes include Legends Showdown, which pits you against evil-looking clones of characters. For a campaign, it's kind of bland, and surprisingly difficult on normal difficulty. Action & Answer Tour is a little better by focusing on puzzles and other objectives during events. Online mode is disappointing due to a limited amount of events available.

Kids will enjoy this newest Mario & Sonic game, even though it comes across as just another mini-game collection.2 stars out of 4

Both games were supplied by the publisher for this review.

About the Author

Jeff Hoard works on the Digital First Media regional Michigan copy desk and writes about video games at http://yay4videogames.blogspot.com. Reach the author at jeff.hoard@oakpress.com
or follow Jeff on Twitter: @JeffHoard921.